1. Field of the Invention
The present invention has to do with, and relates to, the general field of casino gaming, more particularly, to the table play of games of chance, including games in the genre of poker, and the present invention is, likewise, within that genre. The game that is the subject of this patent application may also be obtained in some or other form of electronic, computer play, commonly called virtual or electronic video poker, or played on a telecommunications device or computer via the world-wide web as a video game player. And so the present game in electronic form is also subsumed by, under, and within the scope of this application.
2. Background
The present invention and patent application concern advances in the science of game design, to wit: aspects of poker in combination with aspects of baccarat. This invention in its embodiments are new, and unique, and original to the inventor. These various embodiments of the invention are perceived to offer unique features that are (1) both exciting and attractive to players of table, virtual world and video gaming apparatus, and (2) profitable for a gaming establishment and casino operators, and, at the same time, address and resolve the shortcomings of other casino pokers and related games played at tables or played on electronic apparatus. Of course, the present game may be played for recreational and other purposes besides any gambling purpose and so may be fun and recreational for players to play. Players, such as would play a conventional video game, may play for score and, by the score, win the opportunity to play the game again and again.
Poker is one of the most popular games on the planet. Poker lends itself to play in a wagering/betting environment because the play of poker per se is almost entirely dependent upon the deal from, in almost all cases, a single, standard deck of playing cards (a standard deck of 52 cards). The present invention may preserve the “primacy of the deal” and the play of and from a standard deck of cards, and the hands of cards so dealt, while using a single deck. However, the use of multiple decks, for example, six to eight decks of cards, including complete decks, and/or complete and partial decks, in the course of play, is included within and covered by the scope of this invention, in table and or electronic play, for fun or as a casino game.
With specific regard to poker—being one of the oldest and most popular games in the United States—this game has an established gambling aspect to it that allows a player to wager that he or she holds a poker hand that is higher in rank than the hand or hands held by the dealer at the play table and/or, at the same time, other player(s) in the same game. Almost all poker games feature a five card hand, and the player holding the highest ranking hand is usually the declared winner of any game. The usual and ordinary pre-established poker hand rankings from high to low, are as follows:
ROYAL FLUSH, being Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten of the same suit
STRAIGHT FLUSH, being any five cards in a sequence of the same suit
FOUR OF A KIND, aces being the highest and four deuces, the lowest
FULL HOUSE, being three of a kind and a pair (being two of a kind), where a winner is established based first on the highest ranking being three aces and a high pair of kings
FLUSH, being five cards in the same hand of the same suit where the cards are ranked by spades the highest and clubs the lowest in the event of a tie in high card of the flush
STRAIGHT, being five cards in a sequence but all or some of different suits
THREE OF A KIND, being three cards of the same rank, like three aces
TWO PAIR, being set of two cards alike
ONE PAIR, being two cards of the same rank
NO PAIR, being nada, nothing, Ace high being the highest ranking of NO PAIR
Any or all of the above pre-established poker hands in the above ranking, can, for a variety of game design reasons, be broken down into sub-sets, including such things as hands with high pairs, middle value pairs, and/or low pairs. The same would apply to other hands, such as high straights or low straights, etc. In this same regard, suits such as Spade, Heart, Diamond, and Club already have a traditional ranking between them. With the use of such sub-sets, other and further hand rankings are made possible in any game, and, of course, the present invention finds general application and each and all of these possibilities.
Card and hand values, then, include a ranking order, per the above, which is standard in the play of poker per se, and, in addition, card and hand values, similar to card value ranking of a baccarat hand. This type of ranking includes what can be called, for want of a better word, a point value, the same being especially useful in the determination of a winning hand absent the presence of some commonly obtained hand ranking, all as set forth above, for a high pair such as a pair of Aces. Point values for purpose of this invention follow the face value or point value of that presented by each card, for instance, a 3 has and is assigned a point value of 3. Face cards, in turn, have and are assigned a value of 0, the same for a ten, and Aces play as and are assigned a point value of 1. This scoring follows aspects of the game of baccarat where a two card hand is evaluated by the sum of the values of the cards of the hand. Its sum score total point value, may be, for example, 17, and the first or ten's digit is not included in the value. So a 17 becomes a 7 value, for example, for a 9, 8 two card hand. For example, a hand of a king and queen is evaluated as 0, 0 or 0 total. The most desirable hand is one totaling 9 or may be represented by a 6, 3 or 2, 7, a jack, 9 or other combination reaching 9 without the initial ten's digit. For example, a 6, 9 is evaluated as 5. Card and hand ranking and, in turn, point values, per the above, are utilized in the present invention in the evaluation of hands, comparison of competing hands, and the determination of winning hand(s) according to a predetermined ranking as will be discussed with reference to FIG. 2.
In that the player, as mentioned above, may be playing against the dealer, if not also against other players at a table, both, or against a machine computer processor logic generated hand, all possibilities thereof are within the scope of this invention. The player is actually playing to win with the cards dealt to him or her in each hand of play, and the higher the poker hand ranking/hand ranking by point value achieved by the player, relative to the competition, the more often the player may win. So, in addition to evaluating the hand value of the player per se, in all hands wherein the player wins, he or she may win a designated value in the form of a payout, award, jackpot, bonus, and/or anything else of value such as a score and by the score an opportunity to play the game again provided for by the rules of the play, all of the same subject to being the same and or different, depending upon the venues of play. Also, depending upon the design application of the game, any and all forms of a winning hand can be rewarded in any manner, or scale, or multiplier of any and all wagers or bets placed by the player on his or her hand or hands, and/or may be paid in accordance with a posted table card or pay table stored in machine memory wherein there may be enumerated winning hands and winning hand values, per any applicable pay table, based upon the number or value of chips, coins, tokens, tickets or credits (money), in the usual course, relative to the amount of the bet, wagered by the player.
For games played for money, for example, at a gaming table or by machine, such as the present Pair 9 Poker Plus game played at a machine or casino gaming table, inventory manager-chip kiosks are known, for example, from U. S. Published Patent Application 2007/0060307, whereby chips representing currency may be dispensed in response to receipt of currency, credit card, debit card, bank account transmittal and the like. The kiosk may comprise, for example, a screen display, a touch pad or keypad data input, a chip reader, a ticket validator, an automatic teller capability for credit or debit and connect to the internet, Ethernet, or to various communication devices, electronic or optical to provide casino items of monetary value for play and items of monetary value for payout. The dispenser may stack chips (or other physical items as described below) on receipt and dispense the chips to a user or a single ticket having monetary value. Near field communication (NFC) transaction terminals will soon be available to accept chips, tokens, tickets, credit and debit cards, and the like representing money electronically stored in mobile intelligent devices. The kiosk may use ATM protocols as well as NFC to receive or dispense physical items as defined below. Apple Pay and Google Wallet are examples of apps on cell phones that are ever improving NFC apps for intelligent phones. One communicates with a casino wager or payout device including a slot machine and can play electronically via credit, debit transactions through stored credit cards. Other devices known in the art include CashIO ticket redemption kiosks, tickets at table games (TITA) for ticket redemption and issuance at table games, for example, available from Apogee Electronic Services Inc., micro card redemption and charging devices and management software for managing such kiosks and devices. Another known provider of payment processing, cash handling and cash management services for casinos is NRT Technology Corp. of Ontario, Canada which uses the brands QuickJack, QuickTouch kiosk and QuickTable cash management. Cruise ships offer credit card/debit card storage and electronic play at cruise ship casinos. While some casinos operate on a strict cash basis, others prefer casino tokens, gaming chips, checks or cheques or tickets. Physical item, as used in the specification and claims, may be defined as a validated token, chip, check, ticket, electronic, stored credit/debit card or other casino accepted form of payment or payout having monetary value in both physical and electronic form as dispensed or received, for example, via near field communication between an equipped intelligent mobile device and a so-equipped transaction terminal, radio frequency communication, via the internet, via an Ethernet or hand delivery or validated receipt. One physical item as defined typically has a monetary value of, for example, one dollar US but may have a similar value in another currency such as one Euro. Moreover, a payout may be in the form of a ticket of a value of fractional currency such as a payout from a conventional slot machine, for example, in quarter dollar US amounts and so fractional physical items as defined exist.
Also, a casino game may be simply played for fun. For example, a known smart telephone or small pad computer provides a keyboard with sufficient numerical, functional and alphabetic keys and typically a touch-screen to permit a player at a remote terminal to play a game for fun with a remote machine special-purpose computer. The game may run as an application on the device after downloading from a server as is known in the art.
In all of the above regarding this invention, its scope, likewise includes game play, table lay out or electronic interface, whereby the player may play one or more hands in the same game, without limitation in either a live, electronic or virtual form of play. Each hand so played may include one or more hands or sub-hands, and or any such hand and or sub-hand, likewise, may be subject to wagering in physical items as defined above and scoring and score accumulation, as described further herein.
Further to the above, upon completion of any hand or hands played, in table, virtual or electronic apparatus play of the game subject to this invention, any and all payouts, awards, jackpots, bonuses, and the like, may be paid in physical items as defined above or just be fun to the player and/or to the player and others in any sort of a community pay out or community pot (such as a virtual or imaginary pot), and the same is also subject to and included within the scope of this invention.
There are at present various popular forms of casino poker, for table and electronic play; however, there is no game like the game that is the subject of this invention, which will be referred to herein as Pair 9 Poker Plus. Pair 9 Poker Plus may be described as a combination of aspects of poker and baccarat in scoring and may have, for example, the similarity to poker of an initially dealt or displayed five card hand. With brief reference to FIG. 2, a first two card hand may be a pair of aces and a second two card hand selected from a five card draw hand with discard of a pair of kings and thus may win both hands when compared with a dealer or other players, the hands being ranked 1 and 2.
For clarity, it should be remarked that table games as referenced herein are usually played on ‘felt’, dealt by a live dealer, with a live player or players at the table. Electronic video poker is today played on machines, virtual games on a smart telecommunications device or special game apparatus. Conventional electronic poker may involve a typically metal or other solid cabinet and a video display terminal (VDT screen), usually a touch screen input device, and or deck of buttons (key board) to actuate play, and, within the terminal, a special purpose microprocessor of some sort that operates the varied features of the machine, from play to record keeping in memory, and the like. In a virtual sense, a player may play Pair 9 Poker Plus using an electronic communications device with a remote machine.
In the usual course of play, a player inputs his or her wager, for example, in one or more physical items, and initiates play, whereupon a specially program microprocessor following rules of play selects at random from stored memory a digital representation of five cards that become the player's hand and may be displayed on an output device such as a display or, if table play, the five card hand may be dealt face down to a player on a table per FIG. 1. This computer memory normally represents and includes each of the cards of a single, standard deck of playing cards, being fifty-two cards, not counting jokers or may represent a random draw from a simulated multiple card deck of six to eight decks. This “drawn” hand is displayed on the VDT of a machine or a telecommunications device to the player and, presumably, is not known to the machine virtual player or dealer. The present invention intends to and may include any future use of a robotic or some new form of electronic form of what is now known as table play such as play on a hand held telecommunications device.
For historical perspective, the most popular form of poker has been DRAW poker games (instead of stud poker games) that deal to a player the customary five card hand from a single standard deck of fifty-two playing cards. In this regard, it must be mentioned that there are DRAW poker games on the scene that deliver to the player more cards in the form of one or more hands, for the same single wager and or for separate wagers on each hand, for example, in physical items as defined above and, again, all cards are dealt from a single, standard deck of fifty-two cards. In DRAW poker, the player is dealt five cards, and the player selects one to five of the said cards to hold, discarding any unwanted cards, to be replaced from the said deck during play. Winning or losing DRAW poker hands is determined by comparing the player's final hand to the pre-established poker hand pay table. A very typical pay table for electronic video poker is as follows:
The following payouts may be awarded in physical items as defined above in a scenario of a bonus bet B in Pair 9 Poker Plus and are conventional five card poker awards after a five card deal. Awards per One Coin, Token, Credit of Money, or Monetary Unit or other physical item or items wagered or Played:
NADA (No Pair)ZeroONE PAIROne(Or often a pair of a designatedrank, such as Jacks or Better)TWO PAIRTwoTHREE OF A KINDThreeSTRAIGHTFourFLUSHSixFULL HOUSENineFOUR OF A KINDTwenty-fiveSTRAIGHT FLUSHFiftyROYAL FLUSHTwo hundred fifty—PER CREDIT BET
It should here be noted that, in addition to the above, some known poker games involve “Wild Cards”, whereby one or more ranked cards, such as Deuces, Jokers, one-eyed face cards or other cards, are played as wild. A player may use wild cards to match other cards in the deck in poker and/or these games will pay with one or two jokers that are provided with every new deck of playing cards, and, if jokers are in play, they usually play as “wild” in hands wherein there are Aces, Straights, or Flushes, and or some other final outcome. Likewise, poker games can involve the use of one or more Jokers, playing by the usual and/or different rules in any game.
The present invention covers any and all of these applications, including hand rankings by poker count and by baccarat count, and the like, “wild” cards, and or “joker” in the play of the subject game. A deuce's wild game or one eyed face card in the present invention may be scored in ranking a two card baccarat hand as a 2-7 or other predetermined card value according to house rules and so achieve a 9, fourteenth ranked hand. A joker may be similarly valued in ranking or may be any value desired by the machine, dealer or player. A wild card dealt or displayed to a player of the present game will typically use the wild card to make a highest ranked hand such as a pair of queens rather than a fourteenth ranked 9 baccarat hand.
In the poker genre, there are two poker games that utilize differing numbers of cards in addition to the various DRAW and STUD configurations, including Indian Poker, using one card, Aces—Deuces, using two cards, plus one, Three Card Poker, Four Card Poker, Five Card Poker, Six or Bonus Card Poker, even Seven Card Poker, and super poker, using ten cards. In that it is possible to imagine configurations of the game subject to this invention in table, robotic table, virtual and/or electronic play, even with differing numbers of players, and hands played, as well as the number of cards in each hand, subject to a draw or no draw (as in Stud play) any and all of these variations are likewise included within the scope of this invention.
By way of further and related background, the following is included for reference: In recent years, multiple hand DRAW poker has become popular in the electronic video poker format. One such game is known as “Pick One Poker”, and is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,915. This game deals the player four separate five card hands of poker from a single deck after the player has placed his or her wager, for example, in one or more physical items as defined above, and, then, the player selects which one of the four five card hands to play. Also, the most popular version of multiple hand DRAW poker is known as “Triple Play Poker”, and is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,873, and elsewhere (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,531,448; and 6,007,066). In this game, as it is described, the player places a separate bet on each of three hands. All cards, including the first hand, are dealt from a single, standard deck of playing cards. After the first hand is dealt, face up, the player then selects none, one, two, three, four or five cards thereof to hold, discarding the rest. The held cards are, then, duplicated into the other two hands of poker on the video screen, and replacement cards are dealt for all the non-selected cards in the first hand, and the remaining, additional cards are dealt into the other two hands, all from the same deck, so all three hands have five cards in each. The player then plays the draw hands and is paid any winnings for any of the winning poker hands among the three based upon the customary, pre-established poker pay table. It should be noted that in U.S. Pat. No. 6,132,311, the multi-bet requirement mentioned above was depicted as a drawback to the game per se. It should be noted here that for purposes of the present inventions, the nature of the game played, be it poker, draw poker, stud poker, and or multi-hand poker, the wagering thereon, bet levels, wins and pays per se, for example, in physical items as defined above are not controlling vis a vis the invention, but will instead be seen to be but variables that do not otherwise affect the underlying value and application of the invention to overall poker play. The present invention thus pertains to and has application in any and all of the mentioned poker formats, and, for that matter any and all other poker formats.
By way of still further example in this very regard, there are literally thousands of “Bonus Pokers”, and so-called “Second Chance” pokers, like six card poker, and such, and, again, the related predecessor and present inventions will be seen to pertain to, and to have application in, any and all of the same. In fact these game play variables will be seen to have no impact on the invention. Instead, the present invention will be seen to affect and improve upon all of these pokers as games being dealt from a deal of a deck of cards, or, for example, six to eight multiple decks of cards.
As can be readily discerned from the above discussion, all poker games, and, in fact, even Bingo, Lotto, blackjack, baccarat and Keno, depend upon the deal. And, as has been repeatedly mentioned, in poker, this deal has heretofore been from but one single, “standard” deck of playing cards (except blackjack and baccarat). Poker, in a sense, may be wed to the single, “standard” deck of playing cards because the deal therefrom is the heart of the game, and the game, being a game of both chance and skill, requires uniformity in the deck and the rules played. Players expect and may demand no less. Witness the following:                a. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,066, Electronic Video Poker Games, Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments, paragraph 2: “A conventional deck of fifty-two cards is used”.        b. In U.S. Patent No. 2002/0132657 A1, Mirror Image Poker, Summary of Invention, paragraph 1: “The game is played with a single, conventional 52 card deck or with a computer simulation of such a deck.”        c. U.S. Pat. No. 6,471,587, B1, Game Method and Device, Background, paragraph 5: “The processor selects from data stored in memory representing each card of a deck of cards, e.g. the fifty-two cards of a standard deck of card.” (Note, the Inventor of the present invention disputes the validity of U.S. Pat. No. 6,471,587.)        d. U.S. Pat. No. 5,531,441, Double Poker, Background of the Invention, paragraph 3: “The forerunner of all electronic video poker gaming machines is the video Draw Poker machine that deals cards from a standard 52 card poker deck and displays a single five card hand to the player.”        
Many more poker patents could be described and cited herein. However, it would be redundant, the point having been already made, to wit: poker per se, as a game both of both chance and skill, is defined by and dependent upon the deal, being a deal from the single, well-known, and accepted “standard” deck of playing cards. This is the foundation of the poker game and its overall popularity—it is fundamental to the game that players know as poker, with the caveat that multiple decks and or multiple complete and partial decks may also be utilized in the play of all poker, including the game that is the subject of this invention where six to eight multiple decks may be utilized because the present game is not really poker but comprises aspects of poker and baccarat and other card games as well.
A Problem with Casino Poker and Electronic Poker: Approximately 42% of Pay-Outs are Even Money or Result in Low Score to a Player for Fun.
There are real and intrinsic drawbacks and related limitations in any and all of the aforesaid games of poker including player's hand only poker as played in either or both the table and electronic video poker or video game environment. These drawbacks and the resultant limitations are a function of the play of single deck poker (even whilst using multiple, single decks), and the mathematical limitations thereby imposed on the game, its betting, and related betting strategy/reward structures. Simply put, there are no large jackpots or scores possible in the play, and, at the same time, the win frequency is not high in comparison to other casino games, and in the play of poker per se, there is a plethora of common low pay/even money pay winning hands and, at the same time, a shortage of higher paying, winning hands, all of this being a function of poker, the deck, its configuration, and the standard card values and hand values, per the above.
Baccarat is played at high monetary stakes. It is a popular casino game due to the relatively even odds with a house or dealer and because one may wager many points or credits or chips or equivalent wagers defined as physical items herein, each having, for example, a unitary monetary value such as $1.00(US). It is known that in baccarat games that a minimum bet may be as much as twenty-five dollars and a maximum bet may be placed and be permitted by “high rollers” on the order of $10,000 (US) in physical items. Also, baccarat is played with typically five to eight decks of cards dealt from a shoe which may be passed from player to player.
It is one object of the present invention to resolve the aforesaid and related shortcomings in the play of poker and to combine exciting scoring aspects of baccarat into a single game by and with the Pair 9 Poker Plus game that is the subject of this invention.